I am SO PROUD! Rhoads is our Coach!

Driving home from work yesterday I did something I pretty much never do. I switched from the 1460 KXNO to 1700 The Champ during a commercial. Big mistake. Some goon over there was trashing Rhoads for this video. They played a bite of Ferentz during the press conference where he said Adam Robinson was out and then the Rhoads locker room cheering. First off, that's ridiculous. Let's compare a Priest at a funeral to one at wedding while we're at it. This Champ guy was saying Rhoads' "behavior" in the locker room was embarassing. Saying he was uncool and not collected like Ferentz. Please. Obviously this guy doesn't get it.

Iowa State never wins in Nebraska. We've all heard it's been 33 years and who cares how we did it, we did it. It was pretty amazing to watch, and there was a lot of luck involved but that's football. Sometimes the ball bounces into the in-zone, sometime it bounces out at the 2 yard line.

Matt and Miller had a nice anecdote a few months ago where they said Paul Rhoads was playing foosball with a recruit and some players this past summer. That should explain everything. Paul Rhoads is a D-1 coach who wants to be on the players level and have fun. Iowa State football is always gonna be different. If we have to get fired up in a way that the Iowas, Californias, Auburns, and all the other "where's our respect?" teams. We will take any joy, any win, any reason to be proud of our team and celebrate it like 12 year olds on Christmas morning.

So if we see Rhoads get all hyped up next week after another win, good. He may not be thinking, it but football is a game and I am glad we can revel in it like is.

---

And since I never posted it here... check out our Iowa State Homecoming celebration.

Don't Kid Yourself, The Celtics Are Done

Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix wrote a great knee jerk piece about the Celtics right the ship. That would be fantastic if he had considered the Celtics needed Rondo to post a triple-double, Rose to be in foul trouble throughout the first half, Out rebound the Bulls nearly 2 to 1, and still need Ray Allen to explode for 28 points in the second half. Yeah I'd say the Celtics title hopes are alive and well. Oh wait Ray Allen needed to hit every shot in the last minute to secure a win where both teams scored more than 110 points? Nevermind.

The Celtics are done. Last year they were THE defensive juggernaut. They didn't lose a single home game in the playoffs. This year they have surrender two 100 point games back to back on their home court, and they nearly lost both. I'm a huge Bulls fan who was giddy as a baby horse running across the plains after watching Rose's playoff debut but I have not grown any sense of title possibilities. The Celtics BARELY WIN A HOME GAME and all of a sudden they are back in the hunt? Games 3 & 4 are gonna be fun.

I hope to talk Blackhawks next. peace!

Baseball is Ruined

Maybe the worst part of all of this government steroid witch hunt is the media coverage it stirs up. I think most fans are past the point of caring who is on steroids. We assume 90% of the league takes them and we only get upset that someone breaks the fourth wall and turns our little game into something other than a diversion.

Does anyone want to take a stand on the "steroids issue"? I think not. I think most fans just want all this nonsense to go away. The only time I care about steroids is when I hear a player making more money than I'll ever see in my life benefits from doing this drug.

Now as far as baseball? It might as well be 1996 or '97 right now. When two consecutive off season feature two of the best players in the game being taken down by their drug lust I think you're credibility is shot. None of these leagues want to dig up this garbage. Police the league? Why? So sportswriters (maybe the only people who live and die by "majesty" of the game) can feel they are wasting their lives? To set a good example for kids? Hell no. Bud Selig and his peers are only cleaning up the game because the government and the beat writers are holding their feet to the fire.

I'm gonna wager that Bud Selig (if he is a baseball fan at all and not just a business man) loves Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Not only were their accomplishments so grand and flashy but they did it because they wanted to own the field, not make friends. I loved Michael Jordan because he wanted to kill everyone who wasn't wearing a Bulls uniform not because he was a stand up guy who was drug free. When Barry hit his record breaking homerun a couple years ago everyone was talking about Selig's reaction and prescene. Did he want to be there? Was he just praying for Barry to retire? Of course he didn't want to be there. He wants people to talk about the game and not about him, and who didn't want Barry to retire. Barry staying in the game takes away the whole fun and boyish fan aspect of the game. It's no longer something from our youth we love to watch and get riled up over. Suddenly it's something we have to chew on and take a political stand about. That's why everyone hates Barry now, his drug use took the baseball out the situation and brought it all into reality. I don't want reality, I want diversion, feats of strength, and spectacle.

A-Rod being outed at this point is like if Michael Jordan turned out to be a robot in the early 90's or if Payton Manning secretly used some sort of magnetic ball that was stuck to his receivers hands. This steroid era is horrible because it has burned up the backdrop to the play that is baseball. Its hard to get into the drama of the game when some keeps reminding you that one particular player is cheating. Um dude, in case you haven't realized by now... they're all cheating. That's basebal.